ATG LHW Tourney - Round 1 - Tommy Loughran vs Billy Conn

Geez! What a technical masterpiece we'd be treated to here. And which eliminates of these two huge players from the tournament.

In the red corner, we have Mr. T Loughran, seeded #4, and a top 5 LHW of all time. Unbelievable résumé, and one of the greatest title runs a fighter ever had in this glory division. His wins over McTigue, Greb, Stribling, Risko, Walker, Slattery, Braddock, Baer, Uzcudun, Sharkey ect. are NOT to be scoffed at. It's a damn fine résumé, and the man is a top 20 P4P fighter imo. Thing is, it gets even more impressive. The guy is often referred to as the best pure-boxer to grace the squared circle. In his fight with Braddock, you can see his parrying, slipping and positioning clearly. His ring generalship is legendary, and so is his defence and chin, but his real calling card? It's his ATG jab. Quite possibly the best. Ever. As an upright stylist, he needed some form of long offence, and he used his patented jab, snapping it in and using it to soundly set up his drawing right hands. He didn't shy away from stiff arms and shoves. He had a fair in fighting game, and is able to work the body and tie fighters up, but he preferred the fight at range. Have a gander.

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And in the blue corner, we have 'Irish' Billy Conn. A top 15 LHW, and the man who flummoxed the great Joe Louis before being put the chopping block. A speed demon of the highest order, and one who was remarkably tough too. Conn's unorthodox movement of both head and foot, combined with his speed made him akin to a LHW Pep of sorts. He was however, fairly small. A tall, skinny fellow who weighed in more as a MW and SMW in his career than a LHW, but don't be fooled; 'that's is a guy who fights heavyweights'. A fighter with wonderful footwork and nice work defensively, but his game-plan was more of a spoiler tactic. He didn't throw much, but he did throw just enough, and took rounds by making you look awful. He looked amazing here.

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Who wins? No post, no vote.

 

Bump

 

I tend to pick Loughran here. His left was snappy enough to stack points against Conn, who I think he'd out-work. He wouldn't be chasing Conn, and would be able to out-box him at long range whereas Conn isn't able to do what he normally did. Conn would have to lead, and I don't think he does it well enough to take Loughran on points, especially if Loughran can beat Walker, Greb and Uzcudun when they tried to come at him.

To be honest, I find Conn to be quite overrated, and Loughran to be woefully underrated. Conn's performance vs Louis is amazing, but let's not forget that Louis came in under 200lbs to purposefully hinder himself and was severely overworked. Look at what happened in the rematch. That's what the best Louis does to Conn every time.

 

C'mon we got 4 hours here.

 

20 minutes muh'****as!

 

"In yet another tactical masterpiece from the LHW tournament, 'Irish' Billy Conn beat The Philly Phantom by 15 round majority decision. The start was a torrid, slow round which was thoroughly dominated by Loughran's jab, however Conn started bouncing around, picking his spots and neutralising Tommy's offence. It wasn't his power which put Loughran into a shell, but he speed and skill. It was a glorious battle where both men exhibited skills and smarts beyond belief. Conn's plan was more properly executed, and he took enough rounds from his height advantage to take it. Loughran's jab and ability made it intensely close, but only those aligned with Loughran thought he won."

The first judge ruled it 143-142 in favour of Loughran, but he was over ruled by the other two judges who had it 9-4-1 for Conn.

Conn advances to the quarterfinals, and joins the ranks of Moore, Jones and Greb.